General Background:

A country of great natural beauty and splendour Zambia is a land marked by contrast – with the divides between rich and poor, urban and rural, developed and underdeveloped plain to see.

It is a large landlocked country set in the heart of Southern Africa, bordered in the south by the Zambezi river and world famous Victoria Falls.

Formerly Northern Rhodesia, Zambia was administered by the South Africa Company from 1891 until it was taken over by the UK in 1923. The name changed to Zambia upon independence in 1964. The Zambian currency – kwacha – means ‘dawning’ and reflects the new independent country’s bright future as it looked to a new dawn for all its people.

Unlike many of the countries in which CMS Ireland works Zambia is sparsely populated with only 11 million people living in an area nine times the size of Ireland.

It is one of the most urbanized countries in sub-Saharan Africa – with approximately 50% of the population living in cities – and one of the poorest. More than 80% of the people live below the poverty threshold of $1 a day and the IMF have catagorised it as a ‘Highly Indebted Poor Country”.

Child poverty in particular is a growing phenomenon. More than a million children have been orphaned as a result of the devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic which currently affects more than 17% of the adult population.

Mission in Zambia: Challenges and Opportunities

Much of Zambia is made up of rural communities – with small groups of people existing by subsistence farming, over vast areas. Many of these areas are poor and underdeveloped and it’s here that the Church is seeking to help people by providing the skills with which they can tackle the problems of poverty, limited education, the spread of HIV/AIDS and inadequate healthcare.

Urban areas present their own difficulties. A huge movement of people to the Copperbelt and Lusaka have magnified the problems of unemployment and street children, whilst highlighting the lack of social service provision. Again the Church is seizing opportunities to bring the transformational message of Christ to life by: working with orphans, street children and prisoners; and by training leaders who will be equipped to meet the specific physical and spiritual needs of the people.

CMS Ireland has been in partnership with the Church in Zambia since 1995. The focus of that work has predominantly been on leadership training through the Anglican Seminary in Kitwe. CMS Ireland Mission Partners Keith and Lyn Scott are currently based there.